In The Gilded Age Analysis

Improved Essays
At the turn of the 20th century, factory working conditions were, deplorable at best. Unregulated and it really boggles the mind at the egregiousness of these business owners. Fourteen hour days, at ten or twelve years old, six days a week, and you have to pay for the electricity you use, mistakes you make, risk your life, and you can’t even use the bathroom?!!? While it is challenging for me to get past the rage, in the interest of scholastic endeavor, I will persevere. I feel, of course at first a knee jerk reaction. I am reeling at the absurdity of the whole event and the apathetic and indifferent attitudes of these tight fisted business owners and their unmitigated gall. The simple things taken so much for granted in this day and age were …show more content…
Managers in the business owner’s employ were on staff to enforce adherence to the set rules. The government was still practicing their model of Laissez-faire and workers were basically paid slaves. Owners felt entitled to run their businesses the way they saw fit. They had no sense of duty or obligation to their employees, and frankly had no reason to see them as anything other than tools, used to make the owners money. The mindset of the owners was that employees were expendable, replaceable, and entitled to a paycheck and nothing else. It wasn’t like the workers were doing them a favor or something by being employed by the company. At first the government position was to decline involvement so it could not be seen as interfering. The business owners would have seen any attempt by the government to intercede as a violation of the privacy of the business …show more content…
Would they have been so inclined if the victims were not part of an important group of constituents? It wasn’t until the senator and other governmental incumbents calculated the potential for political damage they would suffer if they lost the support of the Jewish community for failing to reconcile their apathetic response to the tragedy. It didn’t seem to make any difference when the women were alive that they were female. It wasn’t until after their death that the people, who participated in the opposition of and abuses endured by these women, showed remorse. I think it might have been the same public outcry even if the victims had been men.
After the public demand for action, the government completely abandoned their Laissez-faire attitude and enacted many necessary changes, belated as they were. Thirty-six laws were passed on the recommendations made by the Factory Investigating Commission. Laws that included making fire drills mandatory, providing fire escapes, installing sprinkler systems, and the one that really makes me shake my head is they had to make it a law to notify the employees that their building is on fire. Like, REALLY?!!? It had to be enacted as law to make it mandatory to say, “Hey! The building is on

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Summary Of Strik Gridiron

    • 2013 Words
    • 9 Pages

    General Motors alone as a company laid off 60,000 of its production line workers. The company had soon announced that another 60,000 lay offs of workers on the production line would very well be, soon on the way. The US economy had slowed tremendously and the Pentagon was now warning of declining military preparedness. This couldn’t be any worse timing because of the country heading into the new election year. A federal law called the Taft-Harley act that passed in the senate in 1947, gave the government enormous loads of power to use over the activities in the Labor Unions .…

    • 2013 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At the funeral of the victims of the Triangle Shirt Waist factory fire, organizer of the women’s trade union league , Rose Schneiderman, gave a speech of how this wasn’t “the first time girls have been burned alive” and that if there was not a change in the way things were run this wouldn’t be the last an incident like this happened (Document 1). Numerous changes came when the people started to fight for the reform. One change came two years later and was discussed in a speech by Woodrow Wilson where he talks about making a Department of Labor; the purpose of the Department of Labor was to “foster, promote and develop welfare of the wage earners” and “improve working conditions and advancing opportunities” ( Document 6). By making the department of labor, it made employer and worker almost equal along with making the working conditions for laborers healthier and safer. Along with creating the Department of Labor, there were several laws and acts that were…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Introduction The Haymarket Square Riot took place on May 4, 1886 in Chicago Illinois. In the United States, the labor unions have an extensive and compelling history increasingly developing the world’s largest economy in history, the union movement influence in many significant ways to this unparalleled expansion. The unions have delivered numbers of achievements to American workers. Some achievements include to a safe and intolerant work environment, collective bargaining power, the right hour workday, no child labor, wage standards, political guidance and much more.…

    • 1171 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Gilded Age refers to the brief time in American History during the late 19th Century. The era lasted from 1877 to 1893, before the market crash of 1893 that caused a severe depression. The Gilded Age derived its name from Mark Twain, who described the era as the Gilded Age because of the many great fortunes that were created during this period. During this time, the United States experienced a population and economic boom that led to a wealthy upper class. However, the Gilded Age also portrayed a negative side.…

    • 561 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Gilded Age was also The Golden Age, even though it was not so golden. Mark Twain stated, “The period was glittering on the surface, but corrupt underneath.” There are many differences and similarities between the Gilded Age and today. These similarities and differences were not the same for all types of people. Three types people that lived then and now that can be examined more closely are immigrants, Robber Barons, and laborers.…

    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Changes In The Gilded Age

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the years following the end of the Civil War and the-turn-of-the-century saw massive changes in economic and social conditions, which called for attention of the political. In the decade before the Civil War, the realignment of politics along with requirements of political reconstruction, moreover, left the political parties and Congress occupied with issues that did not necessarily pertain to the daily dealings of the working class. An immense mainstream of the national leadership could be considered as political second-rates. Many political machines made good use of their financial authority to buy their way into governorships and the United States Senate. In the years of the Gilded Age, 1876-1900, Congress was noted for being disorderly…

    • 1043 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    From 1870 to 1900 American had a huge growth in its industry and size. In this time period was called the “Gilded Age.” This was the name Mark Twain called it. He refers this to be the period everything on top seem to be sparking and glittering but underneath it’s all corrupt. This essay will be talking about how big business,during the gilded age, sprung up and took control of the economy, political system, and the response the American people gave.…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The History Of Reaganomics

    • 1748 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The Big Idea: Reagan is considered today as the greatest president of all time. Pop culture consistently calls Reagan as the most influential president of all time. But why? Was it his charisma? His system of Reaganomics?…

    • 1748 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During this time it was workers versus bosses. This meaning the bosses saw themselves superior to all their workers. For example workers had a pay cut of ten percent, twice in less than 8 months. Typically workers had a little, while the owners were wealthy. They also had poor working conditions and had to work on weekends except they had Sunday off.…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “My career on the range was during the period when there was a great deal of conflict among the ranchers of the Goliad range territory” (Haynes, 278). Shortly after the Civil War took place, the Gilded Age took place. The Gilded Age was time period were everything seemed to grow quickly. There were several political scandals and many acts of power because those, who had money believed they could do what they wanted. Texas was growing so fast, that it forgot to think about the negative impacts, that would come with success.…

    • 255 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    During the Gilded Age in America, a new movement of techology and wealth spread throughout the country. Industrialization rapidly swept through the nation and urbanized many western areas including the Great Plains and California. White colonist took this as an opportunity to expand westward though this brought destruction to the native americans, while poverty and overpopulation in Japan encouraged migration to America to find their own riches. During the time period of the Gilded Age, the Gold rush was also a prominent movement. White settlers from the east heard of untod rishes in the west and started to make their claim on land in and around california.…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The industrial revolution was good for monopolies and factory owners but awful for the factory workers. The owners would treat the workers horribly and the owners did not appreciate the workers at all but let me tell you more about it and what exactly they did to the workers on a daily basis and what happened when the workers messed up. I am also going to tell you how that stopped and I will tell you how the consumers reacted to all of the monopolies. On a daily basis the workers would wake up early if they even got sleep. They would get up walk in the crowded trashy streets to go to work when they got there they would get started right away and hope that they wouldn’t mess up because it could cost them a life, a finger, arm, leg etc.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Triangle Fire Analysis

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages

    After watching the Triangle Fire documentary (PBS, American Experience, 2011), respond to the following questions. Most answers should be around 3-4 sentences long. Remember to submit your completed quiz to the Quiz 1 dropbox on BeachBoard. 1.…

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    FedEx FedEx is charged with illegal drug trafficking in San Francisco at night. FedEx knew for a decade that they were using pharmacies services. They took steps by setting up special credit policies for internet pharmacies to protect its business. They did this because so when the police shut down the internet pharmacies they won't be broke. According to USA Today it stated that FedEx was ignoring all of the warning from DEA- Drug Enforcement Administration also form the FDA- Food and Drug Administration.…

    • 345 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Having viewed the video, "The Future of Corporate Governance," you might question how corporate governance can better serve an organization 's commitment to being ethical and acting legal. After all, most of the organizations which were "guilty" of financial and accounting mismanagement had corporate governance. But in some instances, the system of corporate governance was tainted by conflicts of interest, personal greed, and so on. So, in addition to what you learned in the video, what is the future of corporate governance?…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays